Bills extend assistant GM Doug Whaley

Posted by Darin Gantt on February 24, 2013, 9:46 AM EDT

The Bills have secured their future at at least one spot this weekend, with assistant general manager Doug Whaley signing a contract extension which solidifies him as the heir apparently to 73-year-old Buddy Nix.

The Bills announced the move, with the statement from the team offering the clear suggestion that Nix is still in charge.

“We are very pleased with the structure of our football operation and look forward to working with Buddy, Doug and the entire staff for many years to come,” team president Russ Brandon said, via Tim Graham of the Buffalo News. “As we have stated previously, there is no timetable for the transition. Our focus continues to be on building the foundation for a winning program.”

There have been multiple suggestions in recent days about Whaley staying for the long-term, and the 40-year-old said he was happy to be a good lieutenant to Nix.

“I always tell people my job is to make Buddy’s job as easy as possible,” Whaley said. “I want to go out there and — for lack of a better term — be the footsoldier to track down all this information and funnel whatever decision he needs to make.”

3 responses to “Bills extend assistant GM Doug Whaley”

I think the Bills missed a golden opportunity to move Nix out when they moved Gailey out. What exactly about the personnel decisions made over the last couple of seasons so enamored Brandon that he felt he just couldn’t part with Nix and start fresh with Whaley?

Hopefully some team will swoop in and force the Bills hand next offseason by offering him their GM job. Not saying Whaley is the second coming or anything, but if I were a Bills fan, I would certainly prefer to see what a fresh decision maker could do over more Nix.